Archive by Author
News Innovators on the Frontline: DavidsonNews.net
Posted on 01. Jul, 2009 by Matthew Sollars.
In the course of the coming weeks, we’re going to dig into what has worked—and what hasn’t—for news innovators across the country. These journalists and web entrepreneurs have all taken our survey, which we’re using to build the business models and identify the revenue opportunities that will sustain journalism for years to come. Take the […]
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MinnPost Tweets Local Ads
Posted on 26. Jun, 2009 by Matthew Sollars.
MinnPost.com launched an innovative micro-blogging advertising service yesterday that they’re calling Real-Time Ads. The Minnesota-based not-for-profit created a new sidebar widget that will publish messages from an advertiser’s Twitter account or blog RSS feed, as long as it has been updated within the last 72 hours. In a post announcing the launch yesterday, MinnPost founder […]
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Take Our Survey!
Posted on 26. Jun, 2009 by Matthew Sollars.
We sent our survey to nearly 200 independent local and hyperlocal websites this week. We’re looking for business and editorial information from websites across the country so we can develop a set of business models and best practices to make sure news has a bright future. We’ve already gotten a great response from dozens of […]
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Why Hyperlocals Should Go Mobile
Posted on 18. Jun, 2009 by Matthew Sollars.
Because the stories that work best on mobile are the bread and butter of hyperlocal coverage, says Mark Potts. “Mobile is really the sweetspot for local sites,” he says. “Google Traffic is never going to pick up the two-car accident downtown or stuff of interest to a small subset of people, like the little league […]
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Diller: Directories "still make nothing but money"
Posted on 11. Jun, 2009 by Matthew Sollars.
Barry Diller spoke to PaidContent earlier this week and in talking up one of his babies, citysearch.com, he makes the case for local online directories. Of course, Diller also says the work of building those directories is “impossible.” Here’s the exchange with Staci Kramer:
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Non-Profits Seek a Donor Collaborative
Posted on 11. Jun, 2009 by Matthew Sollars.
Newspapers aren’t the only ones looking to pool resources. Some of the non-profit news organizations that have been springing up around the country hope to create a network aimed at gathering donations. Last month, at a conference on non-profit media hosted by Duke University, Joel Kramer of MinnPost.com and Jon Sawyer of the Pulitzer Center, […]
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Content you can't afford not to pay for
Posted on 08. Jun, 2009 by Matthew Sollars.
We’ll start this week with a final thought on last week’s discussion of the various pay-for-content models that were presented to newspaper publishers a few weeks back. At the Neiman website, reporter Zachary Seward posted a transcript of his conversation with Steve Brill, in which the mogul explains some of the assumptions for his forthcoming subscription platform, Journalism Online. The entire thing is definitely worth a read, or a listen, but here is a key passage:
Brill: We were meeting with the publisher of a major, you know, city newspaper, not a national newspaper, but a big city newspaper. And he said, well, what do you think you need to achieve critical mass? I said, in this town, I’m looking at it. Which is to say, this thing that, you know, if you’re the publisher of a newspaper, you know, in a major city, one assumes your, your reporting, especially on local issues, is really the critical mass, especially if you’re the only newspaper in that city.
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The Mutter Variation
Posted on 05. Jun, 2009 by Matthew Sollars.
Steve Brill was not the only guy pitching a pay-for-news start-up to newspaper executives in Chicago last week. News veteran Alan Mutter was also on hand to present ViewPass, his idea for an industry-owned online advertising network.
Click here for the pitch Mutter made to the publishers.
As Neiman Lab reported yesterday, Mutter’s business plan focuses primarily on boosting advertising revenues by serving ads to match readers preferences and behavior, rather than the content on the page. However, readers will register/subscribe to access journalism from the ViewPass member publications.
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Brill's Pay-for-News Pitch to Publishers
Posted on 03. Jun, 2009 by Matthew Sollars.
Neiman Lab published details of the pitch Steve Brill is making for paid content yesterday, including a slide show presentation for wooing newspaper publishers. (The slide show is embedded below.)
In his latest venture, Journalism Online, Brill is aiming for an “easy-to-use e-commerce platform”…
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Google Wave and news
Posted on 01. Jun, 2009 by Matthew Sollars.
From Jeff Jarvis, via Buzzmachine.
Never underestimate Google. That should have been my 41st WWGD? rule. Just as I was thinking they were behind the curve on the live web – and argued they should buy Twitter – Google attacked it from the left flank with Wave.
